The breakup of a marriage is never a happy event. Usually hurt feelings and anger occur with both parties, making for a contentious future between former spouses. Adding insult to injury, many spouses refuse to pay the amount of alimony or spousal maintenance required by law, or, conversely, try to get more money than they are legally entitled to collect. If you suspect that you are paying or receiving too much or too little spousal maintenance or alimony, modification of the support order may be needed.
Spousal maintenance is determined on a case by case basis because, unlike child support, there are no state or federal guidelines that determine the amount of the award. Essentially, an award of spousal maintenance requires three showings:
- Need of a party for spousal maintenance
- Ability of a party to pay spousal maintenance
- Sufficient length of marriage to establish "entitlement".
Spousal maintenance decisions are based on the following main factors:
- Length of the marriage
- Standard of living during the marriage
- Income of both parties
- Living expenses of both parties
- Age of both parties
- Property apportioned to each spouse in the divorce
- Education and employability of the spouse seeking maintenance
- Any disability status affecting employability
- The contributions of each party to the marital estate
If you believe your case was not decided correctly based on these factors, or if these factors have changed since the spousal maintenance order was issued, you will need to go back to court to have the order modified. Often, the discovery of hidden assets on the part of the payer or the payee will substantially alter the original award. Fraudulent claims of disability, or inflated estimates of living expenses will also have a great deal of bearing on how much spousal support must be paid or received.
A private investigator will use a variety of methods including hidden assets investigation, video and covert surveillance, skip tracing, and public records search to discover the real story behind the sob story that the payee or payer plans to presented to the court. Faced with the evidence of their deceit, the party in the wrong may decide to drop their unwarranted claim to avoid being charged with perjury in court. In the event that the request for modification does go to court, any evidence discovered by the private investigator can be used as solid evidence to help you win your case, and get the fair deal that you deserve.
(2/20/2013)
Please be prepared, a Free Consultation for this investigation type may request the following information:
Do you have a court order or divorce decree that orders payment of support?
Have you receivied any support payments of any kind?
Are you receiving any cash-based welfare benefits?
Are there citizenship concerns?
Are you the legal guardian?
Are there global assets involved?
Are you aware of any deferred compensation packages, stock options, retirement, future income, etc.?
Are you concerned about the subjects income, credit or assets?
Are you seeking financial support adjustments?
What is the subjects line of work?
Does the subject have a propensity toward violence, physical and/or verbal?
Does the subject have any vehicles?
Does the subject or opposing party have an attorney?
Has the subject reported factually on previous tax returns?
How much money or value in assets do you estimate are hidden?
What have you done on your own to this point? (This can be very critical to success)
By what date do the services need to be complete?
Please understand that the budget for your case may vary depending on the complexity. So that we may help you, what is the budget that you can afford?
Recent Investigation Inquiries
| Origin | Investigation Location | Client Type |
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South Carolina
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Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
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Individual Clients (Personal Cases)
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Colorado Springs, Colorado
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Colorado Springs, Colorado
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Individual Clients (Personal Cases)
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chester, Virginia
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Chicago, Illinois
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Spousal or Matrimonial
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Green Valley, Arizona
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Indianapolis, Indiana
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Spousal or Matrimonial
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Fulda, Minnesota
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Peoria, Illinois
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Spousal or Matrimonial
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Sun City Center, Florida
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Tampa, Florida
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Individual Clients (Personal Cases)
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oswego, New York
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Syracuse, New York
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Spousal or Matrimonial
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Colorado Springs, Colorado
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Colorado Springs, Colorado
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Spousal or Matrimonial
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Australia
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Reno, Nevada
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Individual Clients (Personal Cases)
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Sacramento, California
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Sacramento, California
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Spousal or Matrimonial
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